Growing Up
by fanofNC
Summary: A Modern AU combined with Childhood AU. Your favorite characters are going to school together! What could possibly go wrong? Featuring all major ships... later. You can't expect them to date in kindergarten, right? (That being said, their grammar won't be perfect in the beginning. Please excuse them!) DISCONTINUED
1. Chapter 1

**Selene**

"Momma?" A hand tugged at Channary's sleeve.

"Yes, baby?"

Selene made a face. "I'm not a baby, Momma. I'm five already."

Channary laughed. "Yes, but you'll always be my baby girl. Now, what is it you were going to tell me?"

"Can me and Winter go to the park?"

"Winter and I, dear."

"Can Winter and I go to the park? We want to look in the neighborhood, too, since we just moved here. Maybe we can make some new friends! Please, Momma?"

"Alright, but I'm coming with you."

"But Momma, Auntie said she's coming with me and Winter!"

Channary picked herself up, her purse and her keys. "It doesn't hurt to have another adult watching you. We can get ice cream afterwards, alright?"

"Yay! Thanks, Momma! I'm going to get Winter and Auntie right now!" Selene skipped off happily.

"Since when did she learn to say 'neighborhood'?" remarked a new voice behind Channary.

"Ah, baby sister, can't you see Selene is a smart child? Of course, she can't help it, being a Blackburn."

Levana snickered. "Don't go spoiling the poor girl. She certainly couldn't pick her own mother."

Channary waved her off carelessly. "No one could. I wouldn't choose our mother if I could. Neither would you. Besides, Selene is a princess. She can't be spoiled."

"Doesn't that then make you the scheming queen who's waiting for a prince to manipulate you into marrying your daughter?"

Channary laughed. "No boy will ever be good enough for my Selene. Come now, the girls are waiting for us."

* * *

Half an hour later, the four of them were sitting on a park bench, licking half-melted ice cream cones they bought at a nearby shop.

Selene hopped off the bench after she finished hers. "I'm gonna go play now, Momma."

"But your hands are still sticky and sweet. Come here and wipe them clean, baby."

"I'm not gonna eat my hands, Momma!" Selene made a great show of dragging her feet as she trudged toward Channary.

"You might when you have dirt all over them, dear." Selene pretended to gag, and she and Winter burst into giggles as Channary wiped Selene's hands with wet-ones. "Run along now, dear."

Selene cheered, grabbed Winter by the hand, and together they ran off toward the slide, their laughter ringing like bells.

Channary smiled as she watched them run and play, suddenly wishing she could've done these things as a child. "I think Selene will grow up to be a great actress one day, just like me."

Levana snorted. "Let's hope the only things she'll inherit from you are looks and a talent for acting. Leave out everything else."

"What do you mean, everything else?" responded Channary innocently.

"Well, you don't know who Selene's father is. Doesn't that say something?"

Channary shrugged. "Oh, well." She glanced down at her watch. "My stars, it's five! We should get them home, Levana."

They cleaned up the bench and wandered through the park to find Selene and Winter running around, being chased by a boy with icy blond hair. The three were laughing and panting as they collapsed on the ground, bursting into giggles once more.

"Girls!" Their heads shot up to look at Levana. "We have to go now."

"But we just came here!" Winter exclaimed, looking wistfully at the park and the boy.

"Your first day of school is tomorrow, remember? Now, say goodbye to your friend, and we'll get going."

Winter gave the boy a hug and Selene flashed a mischievous smile before turning to her mother. "Momma, you said we're going to New Beijing Elementary, right?" At Channary's nod, she and Winter cheered.

"Then we'll get to see you tomorrow, Jacin! Bye!"

By the time they got home, the clouds had been illuminated into various shades of pink, yellow, and orange. New Beijing was a truly beautiful place.

"I do think," Winter remarked to Selene as they waited for Levana to unlock the front door, "that our new house is a castle! See the pretty clouds behind it? It looks like it's welcoming us, princesses, back!"

Channary smiled at Winter as they walked through the door. "That's because you and Selene are both beautiful princesses living in a beautiful castle in a beautiful city."

Selene frowned. "I thought Momma's an actress and we moved to a big mansion in a new city is all."

Channary stared at Selene. "Where in the galaxy did you learn to speak like that?"

Selene shrugged. "You and Auntie?"

Channary laughed. "My smart little princess."

"I'm not a princess, Momma!" Selene pouted.

"You are my little princess, dear."

"But Momma, last time you said I was your baby! Can you just pick one?"

* * *

 **Carswell**

"Tomorrow's your first day of school, Carswell. Are you excited?" Rosemary asked, swinging their hands in between them. Carswell smiled proudly, showing a row of white, perfectly straight teeth, and his mother was once again reminded of the good looks that her son had so luckily possessed.

"I'm going to get all the girls, Momma!" he exclaimed cheerfully.

His mother balked, clearly surprised at what Carswell had just said. "Um…" she started skeptically. "Carswell. You're in kindergarten. You really shouldn't be thinking of… girls."

Carswell pouted adorably, his lower lip jutting out. His eyes widened, showing off his glistening irises. "But why?" he whined. "Am I not handsome enough?"

"I just keep on getting more and more surprised," Rosemary muttered to herself under her breath. Smiling, she turned back to her son. "Oh, no! You're the cutest little boy that has ever existed," she cooed. She bopped Carswell's nose, and he giggled. "You go get them, okay?" Rosemary winced after uttering those words.

Carswell cheered and ran forward, seemingly satisfied with what his mother had said. Rosemary sighed and trudged after him. "So, are you nervous?" she asked, keeping him from running into a pole. Carswell grinned again, propping his hands on his hips.

He shook his head vigorously. "No, Momma! I'm not nervous at all!"

* * *

 **Scarlet**

"NO! Don't make me go, please! I'm too nervous, Grandma!" Scarlet begged, tugging at the end of her grandmother's warm, wool dress. Her grandma sighed, tucking a gray piece of hair behind her ear. She picked Scarlet up, heaving her onto her lap. Rocking back and forth on her chair, her grandmother gently wiped away the droplets on Scarlet's tear stained face.

"School is fun, darling. You'll do great," her grandmother insisted.

Scarlet sniffed in disdain and crossed her arms sassily. "No, no, no. You're wrong. Super wrong! Wrong with a big, fat 'X.'" She crossed her arms to make the letter. Her grandmother suppressed a chuckle.

"You can meet new people and make new friends at school. Isn't that fun?" Scarlet stayed silent, slightly swayed by her grandmother's argument. Sensing this, her grandmother kept pushing. "Who knows? Maybe you'll even see Jacin and those pretty girls that you saw yesterday at the park."

Scarlet's face lit up at the mention of Winter and Selene, although she didn't even know who they were - much less their names.

"If you become friends, you can play with them!"

"I, I…" Scarlet hesitated, cheeks puffing up with air. Her grandmother gently bounced the girl on her knee, urging her to keep speaking. "Fine. I'll do it."

* * *

 **Please tell us what you think! Who's got your favorite personality right now? Who do you want to see more of? If you enjoyed this chapter?**


	2. Chapter 2

**Kai**

"Kai, dear, are you ready?"

Kai shook his head, gripping his father's hand in his left and his mother's in his right tightly. "No, Mommy."

They continued down the sidewalk, New Beijing Elementary coming into view. "Why do you think so?" Rikan asked his son. Being a politician, he always asks his son why, hoping to help develop his speech.

"I'm scared, Daddy. I might see Jacin, but we're not very close."

"Is Jacin the one you see at the park?"

"Yeah." Kai wrinkled his nose. "He doesn't talk much."

"What about that girl? With the red hair?"

"Scarlet is okay." Kai sighed adorably. "I guess it won't be that awful."

Karen Crown laughed. "Oh, Kai, of course it won't! Daddy and I went through it too, and here we are."

Kai smiled. "Alright, Mommy."

They got to the school quicker than expected. The school was a brick red building with the doors thrown wide open. Students were already flooding through the gates.

Navigating through the halls, they soon found themselves in a colorfully decorated classroom with ROOM 23 written next to the door right outside the classroom and in bold on the whiteboard. Upon entering, a beautiful young woman greeted them. Some students who were already in the classroom smiled warmly at Kai.

"Hello there! I am Mrs. Kay. Welcome to New Beijing Elementary, room 23!" The woman had a name tag with her name in fancy purple letters.

"Do you know how to write your own name?" This was directed at Kai, who nodded proudly. "Okay, here's a name tag for you. You can pick a marker and write your name on it, okay?"

Once Kai started concentrating on writing his full name neatly, Mrs. Kay turned to Rikan and Karen. "How much can-" she looked over to Kai's name tag "-he do?"

Karen looked thoughtful. "Well, he can write his name for one."

Mrs. Kay laughed. "And he's doing it well, too. What else?"

"He can read to himself." This time it was Rikan who spoke. "He's read through every picture book we have at home."

"Wow, impressive." Mrs. Kay glanced over to see Kai had finished writing "Kaito Crown" on the name tag. "You can go find a seat, Kai." She turned back to his parents. "What about math?"

Karen shrugged. "He can count to a hundred. Really, though, he's more interested in books most of the time or playing."

Mrs. Kay nodded. "What do you do, Mr. Crown?"

"I'm a politician, so I can stay in my office at home most of the time to be with my family."

"No wonder Kai already loves words," Mrs. Kay remarked with a smile. "And you, Mrs. Crown?

"I was a nurse. I took a break when Kai came along, but now that he's in school, I'm thinking about working during the day."

At that moment, another student walked in with her parents. "Well, Mr. and Mrs. Crown, I'm sorry to cut this short, but hopefully I'll get to talk to you guys soon?"

Rikan nodded. "Of course. We'll just say goodbye to Kai and be on our way."

Mrs. Kay nodded a "thanks", then started to greet the next student with as much enthusiasm as before.

Karen crouched down next to Kai's chair and kissed his forehead. "You'll be a good boy for Mrs. Kay?"

Kai nodded, lips trembling a little. "Of course, Mommy."

Rikan ruffled Kai's hair. "You'll do great, son, I know it. Do you like your teacher?"

"Yes, I can tell she's nice, Daddy." Kai smiled bravely before diving at his dad for a hug. "I'll miss you!"

Karen smiled fondly. "We'll miss you too, Kai. But we have to go now, okay?"

Kai nodded, waving at his parents one last time before they disappeared through the door. He walked to where everyone else was already sitting and took a seat in an empty chair.

"Hi, I'm Iko!" Kai got startled and turned around. It was the girl sitting next to him. She was dark-skinned, and her hair was pulled back into more braids than Kai could count. And he could count to a hundred, remember?

"Hello, I'm Kai," he said. _I made a new friend!_

* * *

Jacin was annoyed.

The girl who sat next to him in class kept trying to talk to him. It bothered him so much that he had to pretend to be interested in a book about unicorns to ignore her. That just proves how annoyed he was because he _hates_ unicorns. He can barely read anyways, just a few words here and there.

At least it's lunch now, though that girl- Kate, or something- was still following him. Maybe if he could find a group of boys, he could sit with them, and hopefully they would let him stay-

"Jacin!" Winter, the girl that he met at the park yesterday, was waving at him enthusiastically from a lunch table. He also spotted Selene, along with two other kids he'd seen and played with at the park, Scarlet and Carswell. But the last girl, he didn't recognized. She had short, blonde hair and big blue eyes. He sat down next to Selene, taking bites out of his sandwich while keeping an eye on the girl.

Selene nudged him. "Stop glaring at Cress, you'll make her nervous. She's really shy."

Jacin frowned. "What about 'stranger danger'?"

Selene shrugged, pulling out some Oreos to share. "Well, if something horrible happens, you can be our guard, right? Like that game we were playing at the park yesterday."

"You're talking like a big person again, Selene," Scarlet remarked, eating her grapes happily.

"Cress says big words too," Winter chirped. Cress ducked her head, her hair swishing around her face, effectively covering the redness. "When she's talking."

Scarlet reached for one of Selene's Oreos. "Kai says big words too! Right, Jacin?"

Carswell frowned, reaching for an Oreo too. "How come you don't ask me, Scarlet? I know Kai too!"

Selene slapped his hand away, took one of Scarlet's grapes, popped it in her mouth, and exchanged a grin with Scarlet. "Who's Kai?"

Carswell wrinkled his nose and turned to talk to Winter, who was ignoring him in her efforts to get Cress to talk again. Jacin pointed at someone. "Look, that's Kai."

They all turned, even Winter and Cress, to see an Asian boy walking with another boy and a girl. Scarlet waved at him. The girl noticed, and promptly dragged both boys over to their table.

"Hi, guys, I'm Iko! This is Kaito, but you can call him Kai," she gestured at the Asian boy, "and this is Ze'ev," she said, pointing to the other boy, who looked Middle-Eastern and was rather tall for their age. "Who are you guys?" she continued in her preppy voice.

"I'm Winter." Winter looked at Selene. "Do I say my long name?"

Selene shrugged. "If you mean your full name, then why not?"

"Okay." Winter flashed a bright smile at them. "My name is Winter Hayle-Blackburn." She looked to the others, who looked like they weren't going to talk. "This is Selene, my cousin. We met Jacin at the park yesterday. Jacin says you also know Scarlet and Carswell from the park." She looked at Cress. "And this is Crescent Moon. But she told me to call her Cress."

"And she's very shy," Carswell piped, trying to wink at Winter.

Kai sat down across from Selene. "Nice to meet you," he said, opening his lunch bag and peering inside.

Selene peered at him. "You talk like an adult."

"I told you already!" Scarlet muttered.

Kai looked at Selene curiously. "I think you do too. You said 'adult'. Is your name Selene?"

"Yeah. And your name is Kaito right?"

Kai huffed. "Everyone, just call me Kai." He looked around the table. "Are those Oreos?" he asked, pointing at Selene's bag.

"Yeah. Want one?" She held one out to him.

"Sure! I'll swap with you. I have..." Kai looked around his bag. "Oh, I have brownies! Do you want a bite?"

Selene beamed. "Of course I do!" She took the brownie from Kai and bit it, looking at Carswell. "See? Nice little boys should ask."

Carswell scowled. "Scarlet didn't ask!"

"Scarlet's not a boy." Carswell looked up in surprise when he realized Cress was the one who had spoken. And that her rare words were to reprimand him.

Winter smiled. "Yes, Cress is right!"

Selene inspected her Oreos. "There's three more. Ze'ev? Do you want one?"

Ze'ev jolted in surprise, looking up from his lunch. "How do you remember my name?"

"Maybe I have a computer in my head." Selene giggled, and Kai, Winter observed, smiled at the sound. "I don't know. I just notice stuff and stick them in my head." She tilted her head. "Oreo?"

"Sure."

"Um. Cress, do you want one?" A shake of her head. "Jacin?" A hand held out in acceptance. "Iko, do you want the last one?"

"But what about Winter and Carswell?" Iko inquired.

Selene shrugged. "Winter and I can eat more at home. Carswell lost his when he tried to just take it."

"No fair!" Carswell cried out, indignant of Selene's verdict.

Winter put her hand on Carswell's shoulder. "It's okay. How 'bout I bring Oreos tomorrow?"

"Okay," Carswell beamed, flashing his very most charming smile. Jacin frowned, not liking it one bit.

Selene zipped up her lunch bag. "Do you guys wanna go play now?"

"Yeah, let's go play!"

* * *

 **What do you think? Please tell us in the reviews!**

 **To the first guest: there will definitely be Cresswell somewhere down the line. Not now, they shouldn't date at this age. But I have something planned for the canon ships when they're a bit older ;). As for your sibling relationship request, I'm hoping to make all of them appear like siblings, but if Jacin-Cress-Kai is what you requested, I'll try to feature it!**

 **To the second guest: here it is! Apologies for the wait!**

 **(If you reviewed with a registered account, I replied to you via Private Messages. I won't forsake you for anything, don't worry!)**


	3. Chapter 3

**Wolf**

This was it.

Ze'ev stared down into his lunch pail, fists clenched tightly over the plastic handle so hard that his knuckles had turned white. He was glaring down at the empty box, because he knew from the moment he had opened it - he knew - that something was off.

But it wasn't until now that he noticed it.

He wished he had realized earlier.

His prized possession and favorite food, canned tomatoes, had disappeared from his lunch box.

Ze'ev continued to burn holes into the plastic with his laser sharp eyes, willing it to appear. _What happened? Who did it?_ His nostrils flared, and he could feel his face flushing red.

"Ze'ev?" He nearly jumped at the sound of Winter's voice so close to him. She hesitantly placed a hand on his shoulder. "Are you okay?"

"I-I…" He turned to face Winter, eyes hardening. Winter's eyes widened at his harsh expression. "I am _mad_." He said it with such vehemence that Winter started to shake in her boots.

"Mommy said being m-mad isn't a g-good thing," Winter stuttered. Ze'ev nailed her with another look, making her wither into herself in fear.

"Did you take it?" he demanded, jabbing a finger towards her chest.

"Take what?"

"My tomatoes!"

Winter's eyebrows furrowed together. "Your tomatoes?" Ze'ev nodded vigorously. She shook her head slowly. "No… but I'll help you find your lost tomatoes." She hoped that this would make him feel better. She asked, in her heart, for the tomatoes to return back to Ze'ev before he exploded. Much to her relief, Ze'ev agreed to her proposition, and they set off on a search for the lost tomatoes.

Together, they wandered first towards the direction of the slide. Just now, one of the kids in their kindergarten class had slid down, a bright smile plastered on her face. She was about to climb up the stairs to go down again before Ze'ev halted her in her tracks. "STOP!" he thundered. The girl stood there, stunned. Her eyes got all watery. Ze'ev squinted, leaning closer. "Why are your eyes shiny?"

The girl let out a loud wail before throwing her hands up and running in the opposite direction, bawling her eyes out. Ze'ev and Winter trailed her zig-zagging path across the playground. "SO DID YOU TAKE MY TOMATOES?" Ze'ev shouted after her. She tripped over the curb. He shrugged. "Guess not."

Next, they marched towards Carswell and Jacin, who were hiding behind a bush. They were using long sticks to poke at a snail on the floor, which struggled to recoil into its shell. "Did you take my tomatoes?" Ze'ev said, stepping right onto the poor animal. Both of their heads snapped up before shaking them slowly. "Oh."

They turned to leave, but Jacin called out, "What are you guys doing?"

"We're going on the quest for the missing tomato," said Winter with great conviction. Carswell and Jacin exchanged a look before shrugging and standing up, chasing after them.

"I want to come!"

"Me too!"

The next people they asked were Selene and Scarlet, who were flying on the swings. They also said no, and joined their noble quest. Ze'ev was starting to get a little desperate. Recess was ending. He wanted his tomatoes, or else he thought… he thought he would… stomp on the floor and scream!

 _Yes_ , he thought. _If I don't get to eat my tomatoes, I'm going to stomp on the floor and scream._

Last but not least, they stumbled upon Kai. The entire gang fanning out behind him, Ze'ev narrowed his eyes down at the confused boy. Lifting a shaking finger, he said, "Did _you_ take my tomatoes?"

"What tomatoes?" Kai's eyes darted around quickly before settling on his untied shoes. Bending down, he fumbled with the shoelaces, tying them slowly. Ze'ev frowned, his eyes narrowing even more. _He's not looking at me,_ he thought. _What did my mom say? This was… an excoose, or something like that._ Inwardly, he gasped. _Could it be? Was Kai… lying?_

Ze'ev gasped loudly. Everybody's attention immediately moved to him. "Kai.. Kai is.." He sifted through his mind, struggling to find the right word. His mouth opened and closed like a goldfish before twisting into a scowl. Perhaps he meant suspicious, but instead, this is what came out. "KAI IS SHAKY!"

In unison, everybody let out a horrified gasp.

"What does that mean?" Carswell hissed to Jacin.

"I don't know," Jacin whispered back.

"YOU TOOK MY TOMATOES! YOU'RE THE ONE!"

Kai looked up, baffled. "Wha-"

"Let's not jump to conclusions," Selene cut in smoothly, slowly inserting herself between a shaking Wolf and a confused Kai.

"He took my tomatoes, and you're helping him?" Ze'ev said incredulously, glowering at Selene.

"I didn't steal your tomatoes!" Kai snapped from behind Selene. Selene turned over her shoulder to shoot him a glare. "I didn't even know you had any tomatoes? Why would I steal your tomatoes? I don't even _like_ tomatoes!"

Ze'ev let out a horrified gasp. "How- how could you not like tomatoes?"

"I just don't!"

Ze'ev stuck his tongue out at Kai, blowing a raspberry. "If you don't like tomatoes, then I don't like you!" By now, an excited crowd of kindergarteners had gathered around the small fight, watching the exchange with wide eyes. To them, this was the most intense thing that had happened in their entire lives.

It was Kai's turn to gape at Ze'ev. Selene's jaw had also dropped.

"Ze'ev," Scarlet warned. "If Kai said that he didn't take your tomatoes, then he didn't take your tomatoes."

"Yeah!"

"But he could be lying," Carswell pointed out.

"Carswell!" Kai snapped. "I'm not lying!"

"How do we know you're not lying? You could be lying right now!"

"Ooooooh," the kindergarteners chorused.

"I'M NOT!" Kai roared.

"YOU STOLE MY TOMATOES, SO JUST GIVE THEM BACK!"

"I DIDN'T STEAL ANY OF YOUR STUPID TOMATOES!"

The entire crowd gasped loudly. Some covered their mouths in shock.

"Kai just said a bad word," somebody from the crowd said.

"I don't like you!"

"Fine!"

"Fine!"

Vaguely, the two fuming boys heard high heels clicking quickly towards them. Kai's eyes flickered to behind Ze'ev's back, seeing two female teachers running towards them. Each one of them grabbed their arms, dragging them out of the crowd and away from each other.

* * *

 **Well, well, well. Isn't this fun? Tell us what you think! Where are the tomatoes?**

 **To Guest #1: thank _you_ very much, but unfortunately, we are much busier this year, and updates are irregular. Sorry!**

 **To Guest #2: we will get to everyone's background later. We have the big idea down, but not the details, so some things are being sorted out as we go along. Would you like to have Cress live with Sybil?**

 **(To our other supporters: I respond to you via DM, but I realized there was a problem with that, as messages don't go through from website to app, and vice versa. If you use the app, tell me, and I'll reply to you with the app!)**


	4. Announcement

Hi guys!

I know we haven't been active very lately but that's because we're busy with school. And also... both authors have major writer's block and cannot come up with a single idea to save their lives.

Unfortunately, we have an announcement to make.

We have decided to discontinue Growing Up.

Yes! It's super cute and we love it and all the support we have, but we simply cannot think of how to continue the story. We will be keeping up the story for you guys to enjoy, but it will not be continued!

We will be focusing more on our oneshots book (which you guys should check out *wink wonk*). We will try to come up with a new story soon to put out there!

Thank you guys for understanding and we love you!


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